


Care to Take a Message?

by HauntedAutomaton



Series: Mr. Universe and the Crystal Gems: Reunion Tour [9]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Diplomacy, Gen, Heart-to-Heart, Teen Angst, Tiger Mom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-23 08:27:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20005297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HauntedAutomaton/pseuds/HauntedAutomaton
Summary: Steven is having a hard time with how slowly things are progressing on Homeworld. Pearl decides it's time to have an overdue conversation with the root of the problem.





	Care to Take a Message?

“You must be patient,” said Yellow Diamond.

Pearl’s eyes narrowed at the voice she exited the temple. She saw the golden glow of the Diamond communication line illuminating the rafters of the living room.

“These things take time, and they can’t be rushed.” The Diamond spoke in a placating tone that Pearl hadn’t heard in millennia.

“I know, I know,” Steven said, “But the harvested gems...I can’t stop thinking about them! They’re still trapped-”

“Please, compose yourself,” Yellow snipped, but her tone softened to something approaching sincere. “We...I understand it’s a priority...but what can be done? Those gems are fulfilling vital roles where they are, and what will they do if set loose? What function would they fill?”

“That’s-” Steven started, but was cut off.

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Steven...again...and we  _ will _ figure something out. We must simply be patient. Now, it has been lovely speaking with you.” Yellow looked at him for the first time since the call began. “That will be all?”

Pearl’s spine twinged. It was phrased like a question, but it hung in the air like an order.

“...Yeah...I’ll call you later-”

Yellow only nodded, as the screen dissipated.

“Ugh...” Steven slumped onto his bed, gripping the communicator crystal. He felt an indignation and helplessness rise up in him he was not at all accustomed to.

“GRAHH!” He threw the communicator across the room, but for all his noise, it was half-hearted. It landed with a thin clatter and rolled under the coffee table.

Pearl stepped forward, setting down the clothes hamper to pick up the crystal.

“Pearl!” Steven sat up, looking more defeated than angry now. “Sorry, I know, you’ve told me a thousand times, no yelling, and I shouldn’t throw the-”

“It’s ok, Steven.” She seemed so calm, almost wistful. Steven wondered if this was one of the times he reminded her of his mom. It was also the first time in a long time he was glad to be interrupted.

His scowl remained, however. “It’s not.”

Pearl looked at the boy, quickly becoming a young man. He sat in his loft which had become something of a haphazard diplomatic office in the recent months. The boy was growing for the first time in years, and his “room” had not grown with him. His legs stuck off his bed at odd angles when he slept, and he had basically no privacy to speak of. He had no space. When he was younger, he wanted nothing more than to be a part of the gems’ lives all the time. Now though, he needed a life of his own. Bismuth had offered to expand the house when they had been repairing it, but Steven had refused, insisting Bismuth spend as much time as she could building places for the new gems. Pearl resolved to revisit the issue with the blacksmith later.

“Things may not be alright now,” she said, climbing the stairs to sit with the boy, “but they will be, in time.”

“So what, I just need to  _ be patient? Stop trying? _ ” Steven tried to keep himself from snapping.

Pearl placed her hand on his back. “No. Never.”

Steven looked to her, his eyes watery from fret and stress. “I feel like I’m being crazy. I care about Yellow, I really do, but the way she talks about other gems...’What function will they serve?’...It’s like...Whatever function they want! They deserve to be people!”

He flopped back onto his sheets, threadbare and torn in one or two spots, and pressed his hands onto his eyes. “Grr...I should have said that!”

Pearl ran her hand through his curly hair. “You won’t get everything right the first time.”

“So what am I supposed to do?” Steven sat up again.

Pearl embraced him, holding tight. “Keep trying.”

“Thanks.” Steven muttered back. It was still weary, but she could hear his grin. “You think I can do it?”

“I do.” Pearl squeezed him one last time. “Now jump up. I need to wash your sheets, and probably replace them too. Go see Connie, from what I can tell, she does wonders for this kind of thing.”

Steven smiled a tired smile. “She does. Ok, I’ll be back for dinner. And...thanks,” he said, as Pearl kissed his forehead.

Pearl listened to him clatter out the screen door, and take the steps down to the beach. By the time he reached the bottom, she could hear the distinctive “clud-clud-clud” of him taking the stairs two at a time. She smiled, knowing that his mind must be on Connie by now.

Her smile faded as she rolled her thumb over the edges of the comms crystal in her hand.

The screen flickered to life, filling the room with a yellow shine.

“This is the Diamond communication line, Pearl speak-” Yellow Pearl noticed who it was that was contacting her with a little gasp. “Hey! René! How is my favorite rebel?”

Pearl’s expression broke into a relieved smile, despite herself. “I’m doing well enough I suppose, how...wait...‘René’?”

“Oh! It’s the newest craze. We’ve all been picking  _ human names _ , isn’t that fun?”

“And mine is René?”

“Yes! For ‘Renegade’,” Yellow Pearl struck a fearsome pose. It was clear she had been keeping up with her modeling hobby. “Do you like it?”

Pearl couldn’t help a giggle. “I do. It’s good to hear you’ve all been having some fun-”

“ _ My _ human name is  _ Bella _ . It means ‘Beauty’ in human.”

Pearl’s giggle became a laugh. “Fitting, and what about Blue’s Pearl?”

“She picked ‘Leo’, after some human artist. I told her it was odd, but she seemed to think that made it better.”

“That sounds like her,” Pearl reminisced.

Yellow Pearl sighed. “I have to admit, it does suit her...So! How may I direct your call?”

“I need to speak to Yellow Diamond.”

“Yes, I’ll let her know the Steven would like-”

“No,  _ I _ would like to speak to Yellow Diamond.”

“...You?”

Pearl smirked. “Yes, me.”

Yellow Pearl fumbled, clearly stalling. “H-how about I take a message, and then my Diamond can-”

“Just put me through.”

Yellow Pearl swallowed hard. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Pearl shrugged, “I’m a renegade, remember?”

“Yes...yes you are...good luck.”

“Thank you,  _ Bella _ .”

Yellow Pearl spared one last worried smile, before transferring the comm.

The patterns emanating from the communicator and dancing around the room shifted, as the screen flickered to a low view of Yellow Diamond. The imposing figure was glaring at an array of statistics arrayed before her.

“Steven?” she said, without looking up. “I am sorry how I snapped earlier, I’ve just been very busy. Perhaps we could have this call another-” She noticed it was Pearl on the screen. “Oh.” The Diamond reached down, bringing the communicator up to eye level. “Hello, do you have a message from Steven for me?”

“No, I don’t.” Pearl’s expression was flat and set, like chalk on slate.

Yellow Diamond looked around, confused for a moment. “Then-”

“I have called you, Yellow.”

“You?!” The Diamond composed herself quickly, considering her internal reaction. “Very well...Pearl...what is it?”

“We need to talk.” Pearl’s gaze only hardened.

“About Pink, I’m assuming. You know, I had my doubts at first, but she really is starting to take charge. I’m still not sure what all this-”

“Steven.”

“...I’m sorry?” Yellow couldn’t believe those words just came out of her mouth. The shock of being interrupted by a Pearl was almost too much for her to function.

“His name is Steven, as you well know.”

Yellow bit her tongue, but tried to press on. “...yes, Steven, indeed, I presume you mean to discuss her-”

“His.”

“HIS!” Yellow Diamond’s grip suddenly cracked the rests of her chair. “Whatever! He’s not even here right now, what does it matter-”

“It matters,” said Pearl, with an immutable calm that the Diamond had never before seen, “because his name is Steven.”

Yellow sank back into her chair. “Yes...yes I suppose you’re right.” The pair shared a long silence.

It was Yellow who spoke again, after seeing the cold glare Pearl had fixed her with. “I’m just...she’s really gone.”

Pearl’s face drifted from indifference to a quiet, reserved sadness.

“I knew that, of course,” the Diamond continued, “but after thousands of years...to find out she didn’t...and then to lose her all over again.”

“It took me three years,” Pearl began. “to really start to understand...”

Yellow stared, curious to the olive branch she had just been extended.

“For my part,” Pearl fixed her hair, “I am sorry for the hand I had in how it all played out.”

Yellow squinted. “And what part was that?”

“You don’t remember me, do you?”

The Diamond could only shake her head.

“I was there from the beginning. I was her renegade, I was her Pearl. I was her murderer.”

Yellow gave a soft smile. “I did wonder how she managed that trick.”

The second silence they shared was longer, but it didn’t feel like it.

“The harvested gems,” Pearl finally said.

“He wants them re-integrated as soon as possible.” Yellow sighed. “I know.”

“Are you working on it?”

“Yes, but,” Yellow looked to the Pearl for a long time, trying to remember what excuse she had, trying to offer up some rationale that would not instantly wither under the scrutiny of this...Pearl...who only a couple years ago, mere moments really, would have been less than a plaything. Here Yellow was now, though. Arguing, reasoning, conversing...even commiserating with this...with Pearl.

“I just...” she tried again, before admitting her failure. “I can’t make it work. I can’t see a way. There are far too many gems and far too few functions to go around.”

“Then don’t,” Pearl offered.”

“What?”

“Let the gems find their own function.”

“But...the lost productivity...the inefficiency...”

“What about it?”

Yellow struggled to find some way to wrap her mind around it. Did they really not need full productivity? What would happen to them? What would happen to her?

“I suppose...I could establish a trial run...with some of the outer colonies...”

‘It’s a start,’ Pearl thought. What she said instead was more diplomatic. “The rebellion didn’t have assigned functions, and we did alright for ourselves...for a while at least.”

“Yes, yes I suppose you did...” Yellow sat back again, prodding at the stats in front of her, wondering about the fate of her own function. If productivity was not essential, what did that mean for her? She began to voice this aloud, but the musing caught in her throat. “I would have shattered you, not long ago.”

“I am keenly aware.” Pearl’s dry tone left little of her feelings on the matter to the imagination.

“Why call me, like this then?”

Pearl sat on the bed to ponder for a moment. “Because some things are worth getting shattered over. And because I felt like it.”

“You really are the renegade.”

Pearl spared a smirk. “Correct.”

Yellow’s stare grew distant, looking through her screen rather than at it. “How many times have I made that mistake?”

“Which one?”

“Shattering a gem who didn’t deserve it.”

“My guess?” Pearl let the question hang until Yellow focused on her. “Every time.”

Yellow’s eye fell, as though she wasn't surprised by the response. “How am I supposed to live with that?”

Pearl’s cold gaze returned. “Imagine how they feel.”

The small, lithe gem, sitting in a darkening room, surrounded by shimmering amber light, gave herself one last indulgence in looking on the face of a tyrant as she broke inside.

“But,” she offered one last strand of hope, “if can imagine it, how they feel, broken and scattered, then maybe we can begin to do better.”

“Will it ever be enough?”

“It will have to be...it’s all we can do.”

The pair sat for their longest silence yet. The sun sank beneath the sea behind Pearl, and the engines hummed their chorus around Yellow, until the Diamond found something that did the job of courage, but tasted much more bitter, and spoke.

“Thank you, Pearl.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Tell Steven I’ve begun a new reintegration process, would you?”

“I would be happy to. Until we speak again.”

The darkness enveloped her, as the comm disconnected. Pearl sat amid the threadbare sheets of a small room. She turned the comm device over in her had, letting it catch what little light was still making it through the window. Her smile returned when she heard not one, but two sets of feet, making their way up the stairs...two at a time.


End file.
